Seed pellet



starch serving" to" bind the inert material.

Patented Oct. 27, 1953 SEED PELLET Marius HJOstier, Mereville} France .1Ithas*"alreaidy beenproposed td impart a'pill shape, *by-means--=of acoating "basdwirgypsum plaster, to beetrootseeds;particirlarly-=seeds='hav- '"ing one germonly. Suchpil1s,*'which--are*of=a relatively smalldiameter; present 1 inter aliathe disadvantage that,nctwithstandi-ngthethinness --of thecoating, itprevents germination on account of' its imperviousness to water and/orits resistance which the germ is unable to overcome sup- "posing it hasbeen able to develop.

The 'inain objectof this inventionis t-o-provide acoating or'artifici'alhull'which is capableof fulfilling the three following conditionstogether:

(1) *It is of a 'jconsistency which enables the seed togerminate"withoufihirfdrance" and at the proper time.

(2) "Itissufficientlyresistant not to be broken in the course ofthevariousmanipulations (coating, 'transport placing in the sowingmachine) (*3) It is -'proof--against"any variation of temperature-"andatmospheric moisture.

"The'coatingor artificial hull according to this inventiommay-comprise'a 'base-"of inert material such as sand, sandstone;peat,loamenthelike,and a binder such as a glue oradhesive based on Said inert base maybe-either-in the natural state 'orucrushed. The crushing of the base maybe carried on down to any granularsize, but it will obviously becontinued so far and the crushed grains will be much 1 smaller as it isdesired to obtain pills of greaterresistance or f of smaller diameteryoras it is desired to use a smaller quantity of binding material.

Furthermore, "the "binder used to bind the grains of the base, insteadof being-a starch glue *may also'beany vegetable" glue or otheradhesive,

=such as paste, gluten andgelatine glues; provided it beimputresc'ible-and capable'of swelling under the influence of and beingpermeated through' by water. A carbohydrateglue such as starch, paste orgluten glue is particularly-desira'ble. In fact, it is important that,whenthe pill is deposited ina *sufiiciently moist soilfthe coated seedshouldbe subjected "to the "action of 'moisture from the ground to bringthe-germinationabout, arid that, owing tothat'moisture, the coatingshould lose enough of,its.resistance to enable the germ to overcome itanddevelopnormally'inthe'soil.

The glue or ar'slhesive.:use'd asza'tbinder may be renderedimputrescible by anytknown process and -.it-may.,be: applied in aformlother thanpowder, zand intparticular be made'to swell orJoe-diluted in a suitable solvent, such as. water, for instance.

By way of example, the invention may 'be carried out as-hereunder.

Atpaste is made compose'dnas follows:

i (a) Links. of fine sand sucmas quarryrssa'n'd.

(ohm-s1 1 b) 1 A liqtiid glue or aidhesiveproducedby 'dililting theoold-state in 200 ccs. 0f water, "grams of g-lue in pow-denser fiakes -wit-ha -starch base as-sbld commercially under "the'namelof glue 5 300? T-heliquidrgl-ue-so -pro'duced is-poured into a vessel containing thesandand these ingredients are stirred together -50 as 'to produce: ahomogeneous "paste.

-sa-fd paste is then-used in the manner known 1 -in the manufacture" of:pills l in -order I to coat the seeds,' *a1id=the pills are, of coursedried before use.

The pills may be' ofaany diameter. Tests have shownthat even with anexcessive diametersuch 'as 4" cm, for instancewhere the' seeds-are'mcnogerm beetroot-seeds, the'germination is 'nct prevented. "The:preferre'd diameter for 'the pills is 'a;bout 8"-m-m. It is alsopos's'i'ble, whilst the paste is being prepared, to incorporate anyinsecticide or other suitable matei'ial-with the pastegfor "example in*order *to promote 'germination, or

the "finished *pi'll *may also be coated with -a further layer on said 1insecticide or material.

"The invention also" relates to calibrated pills in which the*coa'ting-presentsa certain' elasticity,

Another 1 obj ect-jzof :the: invention is 2 toproduce 'fstratified rcoatings, mamely coatings in which each zconstituent :is distributed :ina coat rsur- "rounding'eitherqthexseed itself or a previous :coat.nsfurthenobjectisito; produce seeds: covered :over

with coating films of a thickness variable was desired; including -veryithini fi1ms,- .or+ with films i havinga specificz-gravitieswhicharcannbe controlled at will in the process.ofsproduction,wherebylit -isspossible;interealiafinally to. obtaim pills "which.wvhentheyiarezsownHarenotzaifectedrby windltoran .zlappreciablefdegree.

rAccordingiito:thatcaspectrofttheiinvention, the :coatingccomprisesanaturalzor artificial,:resi1ient material which his finer-tatom/wardsthe :seed v :or at least does not attack therseed.Sucht'resilient material can,:inrprinciiplegmbe.aapplied asna layer, it"iscsufiicientlysfiuidcor ifi it hasnbeen "fluidised, "but :m-ore:zgeneraliy, 1 a :so'lid rmaterial is I resorted itoflwhichisitheniiprferablyi appliedi'iinl a granulan=1orzpowderyistateaas,:iorl.instance% inr'the form aomsittedgrasped,agnoundiomcmshedmaterial. rAs

an example of natural materials, there may be mentioned in the firstplace cork, which offers the advantage that it can be obtained veryeasily and at a very low price and that it possesses a great elasticity,even in minute particles. There may also be mentioned other ligneous orcellulosic materials such as ground straw, refuse of elastic textiles,crushed peanut hulls, sawdust, and the like. As an example of artificialand natural materials which are not cellulosic and not ligneous theremay be mentioned elastomers and particularly elastoprenes (rubbers andrelated substances) which are endowed with sufficient elasticity.Natural materials of mineral origin such as asbestos may also be used.In this connection all natural or artificial materials available as aresilient fiber padding may be resorted to. In principle, it is notnecessary, although in many cases it is advantageous, to introduce alsoa dense ingredient in the coating composition for the purpose of givingweight to the finished pills.

According to the invention, the constituents of the coating compositionsmay also be applied either individually or in groups and in rotation, bysuitably measured amounts, in the form of a spray or shower of minuteparticles upon the seeds subjected to a continuous stirring motion, asproduced, for instance, in spherical containers in the production ofsugar coated pills. For that purpose, a binder, preferably starch glue,is first sprayed in and, as the case may be, further binder material isagain sprayed in after several other constituents have been sprayed in.

For example, if the binder is the only liquid constituent, said liquidis sprayed in the form of a sprinkle or a fine spray alternately withthe dusting in of the other ingredients.

The application of the above methods will be illustrated by thefollowing example which relates to the coating of beetroot seedspreviously split up so as to form seeds having one germ only, and to theuse of cork as resilient material.

Example to which had been added 20 grams of gluten glue sold on themarket under the name of N L T glue was sprinkled on said seeds. As soonas the seeds appeared to be on the point of becoming agglomerated, thatis to say when 300 cos. of liquid had been atomised, the whole mixturewas sprinkled with 250 grams of fine sand (Fontainebleau sand). Suchsand adhered to the glue coated seeds and isolated them from oneanother.

The same operation (atomising and powdering) was continued until 2.750kilos of sand had become glued to the seeds.

The coated seeds were removed from the container then sifted through asieve with circular meshes of 3.75 mm. The seeds which passed throughthe meshes were put back in the spherical container in which a binderand then sand as before were sprayed in until all the seeds could beretained by the sieve.

All the seeds were then placed in a larger spherical container in whichalternately 300 cos. of water glued as before were atomised and 40 g. ofcork flour were sprinkled. This operation was repeated several timesuntil the balls thus formed were retained by a mm. mesh screen,

d whilst the smaller ones were returned to the container to be coatedagain as in the case of the sanding operation.

The balls formed in this way are dried, for example in a hot air rotarydrier, the temperature of the air not being allowed to exceed 80, so asnot to destroy the germinative capability of the seeds. The balls whenfinished are of a diameter varying between 4 and 5 mm. where the seedsare monogerm beetroot seeds.

The object of the sanding operation is to add weight to the balls so asto allow a more uniform sowing. In the case of certain seeds other thanbeetroot seeds and also in the case of certain sowing machine, suchoperation is not necessary.

Coating with cork or like resilient material imparts to the seed aresiliently flexible film which facilitates transport without anyspecial packing. Moreover, a film having thickness as low as a fewtenths of a millimeter although being quite adhesive can be put on theseeds. In any case the seed retains all its germinative vigour.

As above stated, the coating may contain inside 7 and/or on the surfacethereof, adjuvants such as fertilisers and other growth stimulatingproducts.

While for the sake of convenience, reference has been made to beetrootseeds, this invention is not restricted to beetroot seeds as willreadily be realized. It has been found in particular that very goodresults were obtained in coating cotton seeds with their fibers, withfilms of the type above described, particularly films containing powderycork or like resilient material; it is desirable to incorporate ananticryptogamic or seed dressing substance such as an organic mercurycompound, in the coating, at least in a final film around an underlyingfilm which contains powdery cork or the like. Coated cotton seeds havingan average diameter of about 1 to 2 centimeters were found convenientfor use.

What I claim is:

l. A seed pellet which comprises a seed encased in a body of awater-permeable binder adapted to be swollen by water, said bodycontaining particles of cork disseminated at least in its outer portion.

2. A seed pellet which comprises a seed encased in a coating of finecork particles and a starch glue holding said cork particles together. I

3. A seed pellet which comprises a seed encased in a coating comprisinga water-permeable binder adapted to be swollen by water, particles of aninert material of higher specific gravity than the remainder of thecoating, disseminated in said binder in the inner portion of saidcoating, and cork particles disseminated in said binder, in the outerportion of said coating.

4. The seed pellet of claim 3, said inert material being sanddistributed in a substantially spherical inner layer of said binder,while cork particles are distributed in a substantially spherical outerlayer of said binder.

MARIUS H. OSTIER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 56,140 Blessing July 3, 1866 2,083,065 Heyl June 8, 19372,313,057 Fischer Mar. 9, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS 7 Number Country Date36,846 Norway Feb. 19, 1923

